This invention relates to improvements in miter boxes which are particularly well suited for cutting crown or cove molding.
In the cutting and installation of molding, mitered joints provide the most attractive and perfect appearing joints. In making an inside mitered joint for two walls meeting at a 90.degree. angle, for example, the two pieces of molding meeting at the joint must be cut at an angle so that the exposed portion of the molding is shorter than that directly against the walls themselves. This is a standard concern which for non-crown molding applications can be easily achieved by a standard miter box cut of 45.degree.. When crown molding is to be cut, an extra complication arises. Since crown molding meets not only the two walls, but also the ceiling, the unexposed portion of the molding has two perpendicular faces (assuming the ceiling is perpendicular to the walls). Use ofa standard miter box to cut a 45.degree. angle with respect to either one of the two flat sides of the molding will give a 90.degree. angle with respect to the other side. However, the cut should be at a non-right angle to both such sides.
Therefore in cutting crown molding, several steps have been necessary to cut outside and inside corners. Inside corners are normally made by returning one end of a first length of the molding flush to the perpendicular wall. The other piece of molding which forms the inside corner is cut diagonally so that the bottom is the longest part of the molding. This diagonal cut is coped to conform to the shape of the first piece of the molding. The coping is necessarily a tedious, cumbersome, expensive and, all too often, imperfect process. Even though the expense of additional labor must be committed to making such a joint, the result is not a true mitered joint and unless the laborer is highly skilled, the finished appearance will be less than satisfactory.
An alternative method of cutting crown molding has been to set nails at specific points in the base of the miter box. The molding then is braced against the back of the miter box so that the nails prevent the bottom from slipping forward. When a cut is made at the normal 45.degree. angle for the mitered joint, the molding is not laying flat on the base of the miter box, but rather at some angle to the miter box base. This makeshift jig is in many ways unsatisfactory to provide a mitered joint for inside and outside corners of crown molding. The size of the molding susceptible to use in such a jig is limited by the size of the back of the miter box. Further, it is difficult to hold the molding in place in this makeshift jig when using a hand saw type miter box. Since the jig does not exactly duplicate the orientation of the molding as installed, the carpenter using such a jig is forced to go through extra calculations to ascertain the proper cut.
The same drawbacks prevent the miter boxes disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,801, No. 3,397,722 and No. 1,286,417 from being very practical. Likewise, the miter box revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,718,791 could not be used to cut crown or cove molding in the same orientation as installed.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a device for achieving a cut in crown or other molding which is suitable for making perfect mitered corners, without requiring undue calculations or other complicated procedures.